EdTech and Social-Emotional Learning

There are many benefits of social-emotional learning, including helping students learn to work as part of a team, helping them manage their own emotions in the classroom, and helping them build stronger connections to their school work among others. All kinds of social-emotional learning strategies have popped up around the world. For starters, they help educators legitimize this teaching approach across grade levels. With SEL practices come opportunities for students to learn some of the most important social-emotional skills, like self-awareness, goal setting, social awareness, and more. And, when adding educational technologies, they can unlock new sets of benefits and expand the power of SEL.

SEL and Technology: Creating Greater Connections

Perhaps the most basic goal of social-emotional learning, creating relevant connections for students, often takes center stage in classrooms. When it first became popular, social-emotional learning was essentially its own entity—a branch off the instructional tree. It’s now, however, become connected with other instructional practices, including perhaps most notably, using technology. SEL and SEL practices help empower students to have their own voice and to expand their minds. Technology tools can help expand that voice, so it’s natural that the two have formed an effective pair in day-to-day learning. For starters, educators can weave SEL concepts, like social awareness and authenticity, into their instruction but that’s just the beginning. Bringing EdTech into the mix can take social-emotional learning to a new level.

Expressing emotions in a social setting.

The connection between SEL and technology, when you think about it, is a fairly logical one. This is because students can create more authentic learning when they use tech tools in a real way. Linking instructional content to both their emotions and using technology helps make the content much more real. It also generally results in students showing greater amounts of interest and passion. Technology also helps them express themselves in new ways or, for some students, for the first time. It may be hard for some to get their ideas across—whether for physical or emotional reasons—and using things like MakerEd technologies can help them convey what they're thinking and feeling. Now, educators are not only finding ways to use STEAM tools to draw connections to SEL, but manufacturers are creating educational technologies for this exact purpose.

Social-emotional learning and soft skills.

The soft skills students develop through SEL experiences, including those we’ve already mentioned, have become crucial in recent years. Previously, educators had been putting a lot of focus into teaching hard skills, like coding. Though it’s easier to measure hard skills development, it’s equally important for students to develop soft skills. We’ve found that hard and soft skills are actually very closely connected and beneficial for students to build. One of the most sought-after skills at the moment, for example, is well-being—something that’s closely related to SEL. Knowing how to manage workloads and ask peers for help when they need it is something students can learn through social-emotional learning. It's one example of how clear communication, which is another component of SEL, can help prepare them for the future.

How Tech Might Enhance Social-Emotional Learning

Though not commonly associated with social-emotional learning and social and emotional skills, students can certainly learn other relevant skills through SEL experiences. These include skills like persistence, practicing empathy, problem solving, and redesigning experiments to overcome previous failed attempts. Particularly when educational technology comes into play, the ability to persist through failures can take a lot of different routes. Besides this, technology can align with SEL in a few different ways. Students may start to connect more deeply with academic content and develop more meaningful intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships. Not only is there potential for EdTech incorporation to make SEL more meaningful, there's also potential for it to help students learn key 21st century skills in the process.

Benefits of SEL and technology.

One of the greatest benefits of using EdTech in social-emotional learning is enabling students to direct their own learning experiences. When they’re learning things they actually want to learn and care about, students tend to exhibit greater engagement levels and, ultimately, achieve greater results. Incorporating technology in SEL helps students work to their strengths and enjoy a more personalized experience in the classroom. Plus, technology tools also help with assessment in social-emotional learning. Teachers can use various tools to better understand how students are doing with SEL skill development and their overall mindsets. They can try formative assessments or capture other forms of data to show students how they can improve. This is especially useful if they exhibit negative behavior at any point ( but educators can also track positive behavior).

Using technology to monitor student progress.

In SEL, technology enables greater levels of personalized learning for students. They can essentially stay in their comfort zones when using tech tools. This ensures that they’re not too bored with what they’re learning nor moving too fast. With higher comfort levels often comes increased performance. Additionally, if educators have a tracking platform available, the increased access to student performance data can go a long way. It can also show how students are sticking to what they need to learn or changes in their emotional state. Finally, technology in SEL helps students build agency. By assuming greater amounts of leadership in their own learning, they’re often able to explore new problem-solving methods and get the chance to make their own decisions.

Closing Gaps with SEL and Technology

Social-emotional learning helps create more cohesive learning experiences for students in a lot of situations. The addition of technology can also help close some gaps students experience with social and emotional skill development. Though educational and maker technologies aren’t designed to replace human interaction, they can make those interactions more meaningful and help enhance learning experiences for students. This allows them to express themselves on deeper levels and bolster the connections they have with their projects. Specifically, it's the supplemental benefits of tech tools that help improve their social and emotional development. When integrated with SEL content, EdTech can help students express their ideas and emotions more effectively, which can provide educators with new ideas for balancing the two and creating high-quality learning.

Social-emotional learning, soft skills, and STEM.

Many of the STEM tools that students typically use in their learning contain features that are naturally compatible with SEL development. When programming a robot, for example, SEL-related experiences include responsible decision making, communication, collaboration, and even frustration. Collaborating with peers is also effective when students are working together on a program—something we already know—and their communication often becomes clearer when student groups or pairs have a common goal. Then, there’s the tangible side of SEL, which is definitely visible when students are learning with hands-on tools. In this particular example, when they see their program run, they’ll gain greater self-confidence. They'll also stay engaged for longer periods of time and, ultimately, this should lead to greater retention.

Surprising SEL tools for the classroom.

Other forms of technology can also help students manage their emotions throughout the day. Devices like smart watches, for example, can track their stress by measuring key physiological indicators and relay that feedback to teachers. They can then use that information to offer an alternative option for those students. Technologies like virtual and augmented reality are also viable in situations like this. If teachers sense a student is frustrated, stressed out, or anxious, specialized VR content can help them return to their comfort zone. AR or VR can immerse students in deep breathing exercises, for example, redirecting their entire focus until they’re okay. Essentially, it all comes back to making sure students are functioning at a high level socially and emotionally. Then, they can get the most out of learning with help from technology.

Social-Emotional Learning: More than ‘Here and Now’

It's probably easy to tell that we believe educational technology and MakerEd tools can bolster social-emotional learning. Students can still learn a lot, however, even if they’re not actually using these tech tools in their SEL experiences. Let us explain. Social-emotional learning does not always have to be hands-on—even when technology is involved. If students are using more technologies in another class, for example, educators don’t necessarily need an instructional plan. This is an opportunity for a reflective discussion on the role technology plays in students' day-to-day lives. It can also help them express their emotions, frustrations, and excitement while connecting with classmates who may share similar viewpoints.

Using technology to foster relationships.

While technology can help students build relationships and give them a starting point for connecting with each other, this is nothing new, so it’s important for teachers to utilize technology in the ways that work best for their students. Educators should consider how certain EdTech tools can fill student needs on the emotional side of learning. Considering what students aren’t getting from everyday instruction is a great way to combine technology and social-emotional development. Another SEL-related benefit of technology occurs when students connect with peers from other countries. Services like Skype, for example, often include live translation features powered by artificial intelligence. This allows students to communicate and connect with others in a way that was not previously possible.

Enhancing social-emotional learning with classroom tech tools.

Aside from the physical benefits of EdTech tools and platforms, they also offer social-emotional benefits for students. Take robotics, for example. Students can learn computer science skills and coding concepts when programming a robot but teachers can also tap their social-emotional sides. They can challenge students to think about how a robot might interact with other robots or with people. This could help students understand that it’s okay to feel nervous in new situations but that collaborating and communicating can help that fear go away. Finally, if technologies are not available during SEL lessons, teachers can still incorporate them by leading discussions on relevant topics. Some of these include their views on violence in video games, the usefulness of AI platforms like Siri, or the ethics behind self-driving cars. All of these can tie into social-emotional learning in one way or another.

How EdTech Use Strengthens SEL Skills

Not only does EdTech have a strong presence in education but the technology has become increasingly immersive and powerful. So, while the state of the workforce demands students gain experience with high-tech tools, school leaders and parents also want to ensure they’re developing social and emotional skills—since those are also important. Technologies that enable students to learn both hard and soft skills are ideal and STEM and maker tools can help them do so. Simply providing students with tech tools and telling them to collaborate with their peers isn’t going to do the trick. Students need guidance when it comes to using new technology, specifically in conjunction with social-emotional learning. And, there are many different ways educators can bring these connections to life through authentic learning experiences.

The social-emotional learning foundation in different subjects.

One way to bring technology into social-emotional learning is when teaching public speaking. Many children (and adults) get nervous for public speaking, so educators can use this as an opportunity to help students manage those emotions. One example is teachers using a microphone in class and handing it to students when they have a question. This helps them feel more comfortable in class discussions or when answering questions. And, this added real-world relevance can help them overcome fears of speaking in front of an audience. Another way to help is by making time for students to self-reflect. Many social-emotional skills have to do with self-improvement and things students can do on their own. Reflecting on, recognizing, and recording examples of positive behavior can help them build on what they did right.

Using robotics for education and SEL.

Finally, educational robotics has shown promising results as a technology that helps with social-emotional development in kids. Particularly when students have social or language disorders, they can use various educational robotics tools to communicate by programming the robot to say certain messages or execute certain actions that indicate how they’re feeling. Many robots for the classroom are perfect for this purpose but the NAO Robot takes things to another level. This highly advanced humanoid is very effective with special populations, particularly students who have Autism. It offers a calming presence and truly helps them get more comfortable with communicating. Plus, it's just one of the many emerging technologies that can help today's students.

Finally, students can use digital platforms, like Flipgrid or Wakelet, to share their thoughts or new things they’ve learned on important topics. By voicing real emotions, they can better connect with the content, their peers, and themselves—the main goals of SEL. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more.